Random Subreddit Generator
Press the button to get one random subreddit from a list of 173, with its category and a link straight to it on Reddit.More Fun, Party & Decision Generators
The Random Subreddit Generator picks one community from a hand-made list of 173 subreddits and shows it as a card with its category and a link that opens the subreddit on reddit.com in a new tab. Leave the dropdown on Random to draw from the whole list, or choose one of 14 categories: Gaming, Television, Humor, Images, Gifs and Videos, Learning and Thinking, Lifestyle and Help, News and Issues, Sports, Technology, Places, Discussion and Stories, Emotional Reaction Fuel, Race, Gender and Identity, and a catch-all for movies, music and franchises.
It gives you one result per press, not a batch. That is on purpose: the point is to go and look at the subreddit, not to collect names. Reddit's own random button (reddit.com/r/random) picks from tens of thousands of subreddits including tiny dead ones; this list is curated so that everything it lands on is a community with a real history.
What is in the list
The list is built around the subreddits that made Reddit's front page in its classic years, which means it is strong on the big general communities and on 2010s fandoms. Some examples by category:
- Gaming (21): r/gaming, r/Games, r/leagueoflegends, r/pokemon, r/Minecraft, r/DotA2, r/skyrim, r/darksouls, r/masseffect, r/KerbalSpaceProgram, r/zelda, r/Fallout.
- Images, Gifs and Videos (29): r/pics, r/videos, r/gifs, r/mildlyinteresting, r/EarthPorn, r/HistoryPorn, r/MapPorn, r/OldSchoolCool, r/photoshopbattles, r/Unexpected.
- Lifestyle and Help (25): r/LifeProTips, r/Fitness, r/loseit, r/DIY, r/Frugal, r/food, r/cats, r/corgi, r/tattoos, r/MakeupAddiction, r/bicycling.
- Learning and Thinking (7): r/todayilearned, r/science, r/askscience, r/space, r/AskHistorians, r/YouShouldKnow, r/explainlikeimfive.
- Television (13): r/gameofthrones, r/breakingbad, r/doctorwho, r/community, r/startrek, r/TheSimpsons, r/futurama, r/thewalkingdead.
- Sports (8): r/nba, r/nfl, r/soccer, r/hockey, r/baseball, r/formula1, r/MMA, r/SquaredCircle.
- News and Issues (8): r/worldnews, r/news, r/politics, r/Conservative, r/Libertarian, r/TrueReddit, r/conspiracy, r/offbeat.
- Places (4): r/canada, r/toronto, r/australia, r/unitedkingdom.
Because the list dates from that era, a few entries are communities that have since gone quiet (r/battlefield3, r/HIMYM, r/mindcrack) and a few carry an adult or 18+ tag on Reddit. We removed the subreddits we know Reddit has banned, but Reddit quarantines and closes communities from time to time, so an occasional link may land on a restricted page.
Ways people use it
- Getting out of your own feed. If your home page is three subreddits deep, a random pull from Sports or Learning and Thinking surfaces something you would never subscribe to on purpose.
- Finding a community for a hobby you have just started. Set Lifestyle and Help and press until something relevant appears; the list has enough breadth that a few presses usually do it.
- Content research. Writers and marketers looking for where a topic is discussed can use the category filter as a shortlist of the big communities in that space.
- Passing time with friends. Pull a random subreddit and read its top posts of all time out loud. r/nosleep, r/pettyrevenge and r/TalesFromRetail are built for this.
For the same idea applied to the wider web, the Random Website Generator and the Random Link Generator open a random site, the Random Wikipedia Page Generator gives you an article, and the Random YouTube Video Generator does the same for video. All of these sit under all fun, party and decision tools.
Frequently asked questions
- How is this different from Reddit's own random subreddit button?
Reddit's r/random picks from every public subreddit, including thousands of empty ones. This tool picks from a curated list of 173 established communities and lets you narrow it to a category first.
- Can I get more than one subreddit at a time?
No. Each press returns a single subreddit. Press again for another; with the category filter set, you will cycle through that category's entries.
- Does the link go straight to the subreddit?
Yes. The subreddit name on the card is a link to reddit.com/r/name and opens in a new tab. You do not need a Reddit account to browse most of them.
- Are the subreddits safe for work?
Most are. A few in the list are tagged 18+ on Reddit (r/sex, for example) and some humor communities are crude. Reddit will show its own warning page before any 18+ content.